Sunday, October 29, 2017

'Hartford Pipeline' member Curtis Manns to be posthumously honored during 2017 Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame event



Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction 2017 will be Nov. 11 on the college's campus.

During the event the late Curtis Manns (Class of 1962) will be posthumously honored with the Gene Forman Inspirational Award.


The award goes to an alum who successfully demonstrates perseverance when faced with adversity during the course of his/her life events.

Manns was a member of Linfield's storied "Hartford Pipeline" of Hartford, Connecticut.

He was the initial student-athlete from a Hartford  high school to attended Linfield.


Manns entered Linfield in 1958 and lettered in football his first three years. He gave up the sport as a Linfield senior to concentrate on academics. Ultimately, he earned master's and doctoral degrees and served for many years on the faculty of Florida A&M.

According to the Bennington, Vermont, Banner, in its Nov. 20, 1971, edition, Curtis Manns "received his B.A. in political science and mathematics from Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon, While at Linfield, Manns played on the varsity football and track teams He graduated with distinction and was elected to the Phi Gamma Mu national honor society. "

In the book Leveling the Playing Field: The Story of the Syracuse Eight by David Marc, the author wrote, "I owe a lot to my teachers and coaches at Weaver (High in Hartford), but the one who inspired me most was my math teacher, Curtis Manns, who was black. To some people it may sound like a cliché today, but he told me I could be anything I want to be in life and that had a powerful impact on me. I located him many years later and thanked him for his advice and support."

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Curtis Lyman Manns apparently was born Aug. 10, 1939, possibly in Kentucky, and apparently died Feb. 8, 2016, possibly in Tallahassee, Florida.

He graduated from Linfield in 1962 with distinction and was elected to Phi Gamma Mu international honor society in the social sciences.

In 1969 he earned a master's degree in education (guidance with an emphasis in psychological counseling) from the University of Hartford and a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in education in 1977 from Stanford University.

He was a research and adjunct professor of management at San Jose State and San Francisco State Universities.

His career included being a real estate and investment broker. He taught and coached at his alma mater, Weaver High School, in Hartford, and also was a teacher and coach in Terryville, Conn.

He was an administrator, including serving as dean of Williams College in Massachusetts.

His duties at Williams included counseling students in personal and academic matters, implementing and enforcing college policy, and proposing to the dean, provost and president of the college programs in those areas which concern African American students. During the summers, Manns directed a transitional program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who will be enrolling in private schools affiliated with the national ABC (A Better Chance) program. 

He taught mathematics at Tallahassee, Florida, Community College and was a finance professor in the School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.
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Photos of Curtis Manns. Color photo from flickr. Other photos from Oak Leaves yearbook show him in student attire, as Linfield football player #58 sitting next to #55 Bernie Grant, both ‘Hartford Pipeline’ members; on sidelines during a Linfield football game and boxing in an Intercollegiate Knight smoker.